As a kid, I dreamed of becoming an FBI agent.
Bringing Our People Home
How Northrop Grumman Empowers Veterans to Thrive and Connect Worldwide
By Becky Boxwell
Rob Atchison doesn’t say it lightly: “I am alive today because of Northrop Grumman.”
During his military service in Afghanistan, Rob flew aboard C130 Hercules, C-7 Globemaster and A330 Voyager aircrafts — all protected by Northrop Grumman’s Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM), a system designed to detect and defeat incoming threats.
There are Northrop Grumman colleagues around the world — some I served with and some I’ll never know — who kept my soldiers and me alive by doing their jobs and going the extra mile.
“I get to go home, share a life with my wife and see my children grow up because that system made sure an aircraft I was on didn’t get shot down while in Afghanistan,” he said.
He knows what it means to fly into danger — and what it means to come home safely. “By making our systems better, more people get to come home,” he said.
That experience drives him today. A former cavalry officer and tank squadron commander in the British Armed Forces, Rob now serves as an operations manager with Northrop Grumman based in the United Kingdom. His connection to the company’s mission is personal.
“There are Northrop Grumman colleagues around the world — some I served with and some I’ll never know — who kept my soldiers and me alive by doing their jobs and going the extra mile,” he said.
Finding a New Home
Rob’s love for space helped lead him to Northrop Grumman. He has a master’s degree in aerospace and tactics and is completing a Ph.D. at Southampton University on how interstellar weather impacts free-space optical communications.
As the first Army officer assigned to the U.K. Space Command, Rob became the organization’s only space warfare instructor and is now still only one of three — maintaining his role as a reservist.
While serving in that role, Rob visited Northrop Grumman’s Space Park campus in California in 2021. There, something clicked.
Rob was stationed in Fort Collins, Colorado, when he was exploring a transition to a civilian career. It was at this time when he got a call from a Northrop Grumman recruiter. “It was the only company I would have left military service for,” he said.
He joined in April 2023 and now supports the company’s work in growing U.K. space sector opportunities.
A Place to Belong
For many veterans, the shift to civilian life can be difficult. For Rob, it felt like coming home.
That sense of belonging inspired him to build something more: a new UK chapter of VERITAS, Northrop Grumman’s veteran employee resource group. The organization — whose full name is Veterans, Employees and Reservists Inspired to Act and Serve — now has more than 8,200 members with 38 chapters across 48 states. Rob’s is the first and only international chapter.
“There’s a deep, unshakeable bond between American and British service members,” he said. “Wherever I was serving in the world, if I looked to the left or the right, I would see not only the Union Flag but also the stars and stripes, every time."
His vision is to create a global network of veterans inside Northrop Grumman — something that mirrors the military culture so many veterans yearn for when they move to civilian life.
“The more difficult life is, the closer you form those connections,” Rob said. “In the harshest times during service, those are the people you can pick up a phone to one or 10 years later and it’s like no time has passed.”
That sense of home and belonging is what Rob believes everyone is looking for.
“You never know exactly what it might look like, but you know what it feels like,” he said. “For me, that’s what Northrop Grumman is. And I’m proud to say it’s part who I am.”
Life at Northrop Grumman
Your work at Northrop Grumman makes a difference. Whether you want to design next-generation aircraft, harness digital technologies or build spacecraft that will return humanity to the moon, you’ll contribute to technology that’s transforming the world. Check out our career opportunities to see how you can help define possible.
